My girlfriend and I went car shopping. She's looking for a new Kia Soul. She'll actually be getting one for her birthday/graduation/christmas present - Shhhh!We then went on a historic trolley tour around Asheville, NC.I watched movies all day on Sunday. The best one was probably "The Emperor's Club" with Kevin Kline. I also watched "How Do You Know," "Toy Story 3" (again), "Smokey and the Bandit 2" and some others I can't remember.

Jikan wrote:As for me: I worked all weekend long on my dissertation proposal, did chores, &c.

What is the proposal?

I remember one favorite professor, Bill McGee, who is now professor at Dharma Drum Buddhist College in Taiwan, telling me about this great 700 page dissertation he wrote only to find out that some scholar had published almost the exact findings 1 month prior.

That's not nearly as bad as another professor who had his laptop stolen - this being the laptop which had his dissertation on it. I never really heard the outcome of that one, though.

Jikan wrote:As for me: I worked all weekend long on my dissertation proposal, did chores, &c.

What is the proposal?

I remember one favorite professor, Bill McGee, who is now professor at Dharma Drum Buddhist College in Taiwan, telling me about this great 700 page dissertation he wrote only to find out that some scholar had published almost the exact findings 1 month prior.

That's not nearly as bad as another professor who had his laptop stolen - this being the laptop which had his dissertation on it. I never really heard the outcome of that one, though.

I'm working on the reproduction of Buddhisty discourses outside of Buddhist contexts: advice books, stress relief meditation classes at hospitals, "contemplative pedagogy" in universities, and the like. There's been a spike in popularity for this material, so there must be a social need (or perceived need). This also draws in the perception of Buddhism as being sort of like science (or a kind of knowledge that is cognate to science)...

Too bad for your professor on the rotten timing. The internet is a boon and a bust for this sort of thing: it's easier to find out what others are doing, but it's also much easier for others to scoop your ideas (and for you to then catch them at it, &c)

I had dieted for two weeks, before this weekend. My spirit weakened and I broke the 1000-1500 calorie diet. Today, I am back on my diet...I went to my doctor, fasting for necessary blood tests...so it was a good time to start dieting again. The first two weeks were easy, now it is getting harder to maintain my resolve. My body is telling me "eat", and I am saying "shut up".

HHDL: "My confidence in venturing into science lies in my basic belief that as in science so in Buddhism, understanding the nature of reality is pursued by means of critical investigation: if scientific analysis were conclusively to demonstrate certain claims in Buddhism to be false, then we must accept the findings of science and abandon those claims."